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Mr. Charles Prince 1989 – 1996
Charles Prince came to Guadalajara from the American School of Torreon. Under his directorship, the school placed an emphasis on the beautification of the facility and on the continued improvement of the academic environment. In 1989 efforts were made to improve the standards of English classes schoolwide. The first English AP course was offered and the English curriculum was developed based more on writing and literature than on grammar drills. In 1991 Dr. Michael Hogan created the first edition of the bilingual literary magazine Sin Fronteras, containing writing by junior high and high school students. During its first years the magazine was financed by the students’ own fund-raising activities: after 1992 it became part of the AP Language and Composition course. When the magazine was sent to compete in the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) international literary magazine competitions, it consistently received the awards of Excellence and Superior achievement. On three occasions it received the Highest Award among all international schools. The success of the literary magazine and the AP English classes encouraged Mr. Prince to include more AP classes to challenge the students. He hired highly qualified staff and by the end of 1993 there were eight AP classes being offered.
The middle school concept was introduced for the first time at ASFG in 1995, comprised of grades five through eight. Previously the sections had been organized like other schools in Guadalajara. The middle school concept was strange to Mexican parents and took several years before it was fully accepted. In elementary Mr. Prince initiated a character education program focusing on universal values such as responsibility and honesty. It has since evolved into the current schoolwide human development program.
As in previous decades, the school was inevitably affected by Mexico’s financial problems. President Carlos Salinas was faced with a fiscal crisis and a foreign debt of $100 billion USD. In an effort to meet foreign debt obligations, Salinas sold off more than 400 of the 700 state enterprises. He also agreed to join the US and Canada in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which took effect on January 1, 1994. This date also marked the start of the Zapatista Rebellion in which some indigenous groups in Chiapas overran the town of San Cristobal de las Casas in order to draw attention to their demands for indigenous rights and land reform. Salinas left office in 1994, leaving his successor Ernesto Zedillo with an over-valued peso and the probability that Mexico would be unable to meet its debt payments. When Zedillo took power, capital was already in flight with an estimated $1.5 billion USD per day leaving Mexico. On December 21 the peso was devalued by almost 100 percent, falling from 3.70 to the dollar to 6.50 to the dollar. Mexico was in the deepest financial crisis of its history.
The financial downturn of the Mexican economy had severe repercussions at the American School. Over a period of two months, some 400 private schools in Mexico were forced to close. In an attempt to avoid this happening to the American School, Mr. Prince asked for a 50 percent increase in tuition without which the school could not continue to operate. The Parents Association asked for a full financial audit of the school which was provided and later replicated by the parents’ own auditors who essentially agreed with the original audit. However a small group of dissident parents were convinced that the school’s financial situation was due to mismanagement. They spread negative publicity about the school’s administration and even forced their way into the school to make their opinions known to all. This period, now known as “The Revolution”,ended with the section principals, the director general, and the board members positions all becoming vacant. The school lost a great many talented and dedicated educators and, as the 1995-1996 school year drew to a close, it found itself in a deep financial crisis and facing a serious threat to its very existence.
Life in Mexico at the Time
1990 Octavio Paz wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
1992 Sewer explosion in Guadalajara kills thousands
1994 Luis Donaldo Colosio assassinated. Ernesto Zedillo becomes president.
1995 US rescues Mexican economy with $20 billion USD in
aid. Ex-president Salinas goes into exile.
1995 Mexican population: 91 million |
World Events of 1989-1996
1990 Iraq invades Kuwait
Nelson Mandela freed from prison in South Africa
Germany united
WWW created
1990s Grunge rock on the rise (Nirvana, Pearl Jam)
1991 The USSR comes to an end
1992 Civil war begins in Yugoslavia
1995 Rwanda massacre
DVDs invented
1996 Terrorist bomb explodes at the Atlanta Olympics |
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